Taking Back Sunday went back to it's original lineup a few years ago but that doesn't mean we have to stop appreciating the fluidity that they used during that process and the chemistry that the original lineup of the band has. With their second full-length album with the lineup as it's always been intended to be, Happiness Is truly Taking Back Sunday. If you were to go back twelve years ago and listen to "Cute Without The E" then listen to Happiness Is… right after that, you'd think that this album would be the quintessential TBS record - that is if you remove the decade between the band's debut album and their latest record.

The truth about Happiness Is… is that it's a little bit of everything that they've done well with their last few albums. It's arena friendly rock with an edge that doesn't shy away from flirting with the odd and briefly incorporates elements of both punk and pop music - not necessarily pop punk music. The cool thing about Taking Back Sunday is that there have been bands like them over the past twelve years, but only subtly so. They've kind of been their own awesome monster floating in their own bubble and this LP lets you peak into the different faces that they've made over the years.

They're not doing anything drastically different than they did on New Again or anything in the Warner Bros. days, but Taking Back Sunday is doing what they want with Happiness Is…, that alone is pretty awesome. And while this isn't the best Taking Back Sunday album it's the one that encompasses almost everything that's great about the band.

Taking Back Sunday went back to it's original lineup a few years ago but that doesn't mean we have to stop appreciating the fluidity that they used during that process and the chemistry that the original lineup of the band has. With their second full-length album with the lineup as it's always been intended to be, Happiness Is truly Taking Back Sunday. If you were to go back twelve years ago and listen to "Cute Without The E" then listen to Happiness Is… right after that, you'd think that this album would be the quintessential TBS record - that is if you remove the decade between the band's debut album and their latest record.

The truth about Happiness Is… is that it's a little bit of everything that they've done well with their last few albums. It's arena friendly rock with an edge that doesn't shy away from flirting with the odd and briefly incorporates elements of both punk and pop music - not necessarily pop punk music. The cool thing about Taking Back Sunday is that there have been bands like them over the past twelve years, but only subtly so. They've kind of been their own awesome monster floating in their own bubble and this LP lets you peak into the different faces that they've made over the years.

They're not doing anything drastically different than they did on New Again or anything in the Warner Bros. days, but Taking Back Sunday is doing what they want with Happiness Is…, that alone is pretty awesome. And while this isn't the best Taking Back Sunday album it's the one that encompasses almost everything that's great about the band.